"Facing the Tent" or simply "Around the Tent"

toddpedlar · #1 (**permalink**) 04-26-2008, 08:41 AM

Found an interesting textual difference in my devotional reading this morning in Numbers 2.

In the ESV, we read:

whereas in the NASB, NKJV, and others (including the Geneva and AV) we find something more like "around the tent, some distance from it" or perhaps just "around the tent" or "far off from the tent".

I'm wondering about the ESV choice to say "facing the tent" - since it's the only translation that I've found that translates the underlying text that way, I wonder why they made the choice. Anyone with some Hebrew experience that might be able to shed light on the reason?

My thought when reading it was that if the Lord commanded the camps to "face the tent" - if in fact that's a correct rendering of the Hebrew - it could be a significant statement, since you would expect a wandering people, passing through hostile territory, to have the men of war encamped around the point of central importance facing toward danger. If correct, I would be wondering about whether God was making a point about HIM being their protection by commanding them to NOT do what an encamped army would normally do in order to better protect themselves.

Probably this is a minor point anyway, but I thought the translational difference was interesting.

victorbravo · #2 (**permalink**) 04-26-2008, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by toddpedlar

Found an interesting textual difference in my devotional reading this morning in Numbers 2.

In the ESV, we read:

whereas in the NASB, NKJV, and others (including the Geneva and AV) we find something more like "around the tent, some distance from it" or perhaps just "around the tent" or "far off from the tent".

I'm wondering about the ESV choice to say "facing the tent" - since it's the only translation that I've found that translates the underlying text that way, I wonder why they made the choice. Anyone with some Hebrew experience that might be able to shed light on the reason?

My thought when reading it was that if the Lord commanded the camps to "face the tent" - if in fact that's a correct rendering of the Hebrew - it could be a significant statement, since you would expect a wandering people, passing through hostile territory, to have the men of war encamped around the point of central importance facing toward danger. If correct, I would be wondering about whether God was making a point about HIM being their protection by commanding them to NOT do what an encamped army would normally do in order to better protect themselves.

Probably this is a minor point anyway, but I thought the translational difference was interesting.

I'm certainly no Hebrew scholar, but if I were asked to translate that, I'd go with the "around" or "in the environs of" idea. I don't quite get the facing the camp sense, unless they are working from a different source.

Contra_Mundum · #3 (**permalink**) 04-26-2008, 11:09 AM

Its a compound word, m'ngd. Literally and roughly: "from the front"

So "from the front encircling to the tent of meeting they shall pitch," which is then to be interpreted.

KJV took the "from" in the sense of "giving space", leaving the impression of a camp spread out. Also NKJ "some distance".

ASV took it more the opposite, translating "over against" the tent, indicating a compact camp.

The ESV has offered a different gloss, that does not give any sens of "space" at all, but "orientation." I like it.

victorbravo · #4 (**permalink**) 04-26-2008, 12:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Contra_Mundum

Its a compound word, m'ngd. Literally and roughly: "from the front"

So "from the front encircling to the tent of meeting they shall pitch," which is then to be interpreted.

KJV took the "from" in the sense of "giving space", leaving the impression of a camp spread out. Also NKJ "some distance".

ASV took it more the opposite, translating "over against" the tent, indicating a compact camp.

The ESV has offered a different gloss, that does not give any sens of "space" at all, but "orientation." I like it.

Well, now I see your point. I was more influenced by the following word sb'b, which I took for encompass or "round about", but it also can mean to turn as well. So I see how they could read the two together as emphasizing orientation.

Augusta · #5 (**permalink**) 04-26-2008, 02:35 PM

You must be doing M'Cheyne's. I recently read that too and my first thought was it must be a trust in the Lord thing. They keep their face toward him and trust in his protection.